


Bearing Witness

by The_Opened_Door



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26735668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Opened_Door/pseuds/The_Opened_Door
Summary: A 'what if' Coda to 5x19What if Gabriel and Dean had spoken about brothers and brotherhood before the showdown at the motel?
Kudos: 1





	Bearing Witness

"He is my brother, and I _love_ him".

Dean jerked around, startled by the sudden noise. Gabriel stood behind him.

"What? Who? Cas?" After the decision to kill Lucifer at the motel, Dean didn’t expect to see Gabriel.

"No, dimwit. Lucifer. I'm going to do this, I'm going to go through with the plan. But in exchange, you need to listen. You are going to bear witness before I do what I am going to do."

As Gabriel spoke, Dean felt the air charge around him, just like a thunderstorm was going to hit; a trickster shaking off its skin to show the thing that brought down cities, turned a woman to salt, another that she bore God himself.

Dean felt afraid, afraid and very, very small.

"Okay. Okay, I understand. I'd like to listen". He looked Gabriel in the eyes. He didn't know if angels could sense the truth or not, or if Gabriel would even look for that. But Dean could never kill Sam. He would refuse, even if it meant the end of the world. He would bear witness.

Gabriel leaned beside him against the car.

"He is my broker, and I love him. Before pride, before the fall, before war and everything that came after, he was the one I loved the most. Lucifer doesn't mean devil, it means Light Bringer, and everywhere he would go was brighter for his presence. Before our Father made a word for light, he made a Light Bringer, and I don't even think He saw a paradox."

Gabriel's hands were shaking against his jeans, a painfully human motion. Dean's hands shook that same way, before he made his crossroads deal, when he wasn't sure Sam could be saved.

"What was he like? Before?" Gabriel shot him a glance; Dean tried to show his honesty again. He would bear witness.

Gabriel sighed, crossed his arms, leaned into Dean's side. Do angels crave comfort?

"He…was everything to me. We played together, we flew into the universe and through nebula and into the heart of stars being born. Our wings cut holes through space and time, and we didn't know what we were doing, if it could, or would kill us. We didn't even know if we could die, that is was possible, but we could taste the danger. Clumps of nitrogen and helium and all sorts of burning gases would stick to our wings, and we'd leave streams of it through the galaxies, and the empty spaces between them."

Gabriel rubbed his hands against his eyes, almost like he had a headache or was trying to hold back tears. Dean put his arm around Gabriel's shoulder. Dean hoped it was a headache. He would bear witness.

"We should have been more afraid, or I should have been more afraid. But I was with my brother, and I knew as long as I was with him, I was safe, that we would make it back to the Host and to our Father. I'd never felt so sure of something before then, and I haven't felt as sure about something since. If I'm with my brother, nothing bad can happen."

It was tears Gabriel was trying to hold back. They fell then, and Dean remembered Sam's Harry Potter phase, and how phoenix tears would heal any magical wound. He thought Gabriel's tears might burn anything they touched.

"He was beautiful and bright and when he turned against us, when he chose pride over humanity, I almost followed him. I had no position on it, I didn't care, I just knew that my favourite brother, my favourite _friend_ was doing what he thought was right, and who was I to question that? But I saw things were getting out of control, I _saw_ that it would end in ruin and I helped my Father and Michael put Lucifer down, and as soon as it was finished, I ran."

Gabriel was shaking then, and the lights on the street were flickering, the powerlines sparking, and Dean swore he could feel wings furling and unfurling behind him, wings made out of smoke and fear and divinity. He tightened his arm around Gabriel, moved the hold into a hug and rested his forehead on Gabriel's shoulder. He would bear witness.

Gabriel gripped Dean's arm across his chest, and Dean could feel his bones grinding together, feel the bruises blooming on his arm and wrist.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I asked you to do this, I'm sorry you have to kill your brother. I couldn’t do it, I wouldn't. No matter what, I wouldn't ever kill Sam, and I'm sorry." As Dean spoke, he felt Gabriel return his hug, heard the powerlines stop snapping and shaking.

"When this is over, I want you to remember my brother as you remember yours. Remember that he brought light and beauty before this." Gabriel shifted, and Dean felt memories flood into his brain, Gabriel's memories of using his wings to make the Milky Way spin, saw the Light Bringer on the other side making spokes of the stars. He remembered the nebula and dark matter, gas giants and collapsing stars, all with his brother, his friend beside him.

Dean would bear witness.


End file.
